Cross Country in 8th grade...?

Question

I did cross country last year during the school year and I LOVED IT. It was one of the best sport experiences I've ever had. Everyone was so friendly and encouraged me to do better and it was amazing!

But I'm sad to say my times were...less than good. Maybe like 8:30 for the mile? I know, awful. But I am very slim because of my fast metabolism, just not exactly toned and in shape. I really want to get my mile time down when cross country starts in September again. How should I go about doing this? My neighborhood is a mile around, so I'm thinking I'll be running that a lot.

Should I just keep running non-stop pand try to raise my endurance? Or run at a faster pace for as long as possible? Or something else?

Answer 1

first you should build a base of endurance by running 3 miles 5 times each week. After a month start running one day hard, which is called  a tempo day, run at 80% of maximum speed.

You can also do intervals one day.

There are different types of intervals, you could run for a distance, if you have a mile then do 3x1 mile at a fast pace, hopefully your race pace with a short rest between each mile.

You can also run time intervals.

Run hard for 2:00 then rest for 1:00 repeat this 10 times.

So you should do 3 days easy, 1 day tempo, 1 or 2 days intervals.

You will be much better this year.

Answer 2

My advice would be to work on both your endurance and your speed at the same time. Each day run a little faster and that should help you with both.

If you feel like you're getting overwhelmed with your pace and you dont think you can keep that speed steady throughout the whole time, slow down and take it from there.

You have all summer to get however much time you want off of it.

And if at times, you feel like you can't do it anymore, test your limits.

Sports are all about no pain no gain. You have to push yourself as far as you think you can without getting injured. As you well know, sports are about dedication, and if you don't run all summer and try to get at least a few seconds off your time, you will not succeed at getting faster.

Also, just a few pointers from my point of view [[im a cross country and track runner]], you should definitely consider taking up track too. If you went for something like the 400m run, you could definitely kill it. And running fast and learning the art of running through only a quarter of a mile, might also help you in cross country running.

I may not be the best fitness trainer, or the best runner, but my track coach is like my best friend and he tells me these things all the time.

And seeing how you have such fast metabolism, you want to eat as much as you can.

It doesn't matter if the food is healthy or not, really, just eat.

I usually only run track, but I'm starting cross country this year. And even with only track, I'm addicted to food. There wasn't a time that you could catch me without food. And I'm slim too.

Remember that in order to run, you must eat. That's the only way you will ever get energy and run your best.

I hope this helps ;)